Anita Butterworth
Whether you called it the tuckshop or the canteen, there was always one thing on your mind when the lunch bell rang: what delicious treat you were going to buy.
For some it was a cream bun dusted with icing sugar. Others raced for a Sunny Boy or a meat pie, while plenty couldn’t go past a buttered bread roll stuffed with chips.
We asked the Mouths of Mums community tell us the Aussie tuckshop snacks they remember most fondly, and after almost 1,500 comments, one nostalgic favourite stood head and shoulders above the rest.
The cream of the crop, so to speak.
Cream buns ruled the tuckshop
There was one clear winner when it came to crowning the best childhood tuckshop snack. The humble cream bun.
Cream buns weren’t just popular. They were practically a national treasure.
Some people remembered them costing just a few cents, others remembered the fresh cream spilling everywhere, and plenty admitted they still can’t resist one today.
For many Australians, nothing has quite lived up to those old-school bakery cream buns.
Sunny Boys were the taste of summer
If cream buns owned winter, Sunny Boys belonged to summer.
They were mentioned over and over again, along with Glugs, Razz, Zaps and Billabongs. And everyone remembered one magical possibility …
Australians really loved putting carbs inside more carbs
One of the funniest discoveries from the comments was how many of us apparently decided one carb loaded product simply wasn’t enough.
The classic? A sausage roll … inside a buttered bread roll. It was a nostalgic tuckshop snack that was mentioned again and again.
As if that wasn’t enough, another Aussie favourite was stuffing packets of chips into fresh buttered rolls.
Apparently, every variety was fair game: chicken chips. Twisties, salt and vinegar chips, Samboy, BBQ chips – the saltier the better!
Pineapple doughnuts deserve Hall of Fame status
If there was one bakery item that came closest to challenging cream buns, it was the humble pineapple doughnut.
Dozens of people insisted they simply don’t taste the same anymore. Warm, sugary and impossible to stop at one.
The forgotten tuckshop legends
Some snacks have almost disappeared completely.
Our community remembered:
- Space Food Sticks
- Jupiter Bars
- Carob Buds
- Bush biscuits
- Matchsticks
- Coffee scrolls
- Vegemite crusts
- Finger buns
- Ovalteenies
- Eucalyptus lollies
Every school had its own famous specialty
One thing we loved was discovering the treats that only existed at one particular school.
Like Artarmon Public School’s famous chocolate crusts.
Others remembered homemade jelly cups, savoury mince rolls, giant bush biscuits, special pies from the local bakery and canteen ladies who became legends in their own right.
Remember Vegemite crusts?
Not everyone even had a tuckshop
One of the sweetest surprises was how many older Australians said they never had a school canteen at all.
Instead, they remembered walking home for lunch, ordering pies from the local bakery once a week or simply making do with homemade sandwiches.
Did your favourite tuckshop snack make the list? Or was there a legendary tuckshop treat that only your school seemed to have? Tell us in the comments below!
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mom160270, NSW said
- 02 Jul 2026
Post a comment2:46 pm
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